None of it matters

Every team in North American sports will have a debate about it in the next year or two. It doesn't matter if the White Sox didn't play yesterday. It's not unusual for games to be canceled or postponed out of respect for the victims of mass shooting. After Uvalde, it is the same thing as the Mavericks in the playoffs. Maybe what the Philadelphians will have to discuss tomorrow. The sick cycle is the same.

All this has been done by us. NBA players walked out of the playoffs. NHL players began to follow. We've seen the gestures. It isn't that they aren't needed or appreciated. They are part of the script. All of us have seen a thread like this before.

I was supposed to write about the differences between Highland Park and the South Side of Chicago and how they will be linked in the most callous and ignorant fashion by those with an agenda to keep us in this prison. Someone will make a joke that if the RedSox had to debate whether or not to play a game after a shooting close by, they wouldn't actually play. The South Side and Highland Park were always connected. We are all linked by being held hostage by a vociferous and well-moneyed minority, but it takes another mass shooting to highlight it. If you are trying to get to school or the north shore, it doesn't matter. We are held hostage by the fact that anyone can have a weapon of mass destruction, even if they don't have a big problem.

Which makes the gesture useless. The quotes from Kljestan are the same as before or after the game. Nobody is left to convince. It is not possible to win over the middle. Everyone will stay on their side. The right side and the wrong side both have the same amount of senators in their pockets. Even though we can kick and scream, there is no heart left to be turned. If you don't get it you are lost. It used to be that writing something like this on a site like this would be something that would make you cringe. You know where you are even if there is no one reading this who can flip it. Everyone is in their trenches.

The games are still going on. If the games were stopped, they would be indicted. The way the GOP wants it is almost certain to be the way the NRA wants it. It isn't that we're indifferent or disinterested. A lot of hostages are also. What does it matter if the team doesn't wear cleats or has a moment of silence?

It will be a question other teams will wrestle with for a few days. There are no wrong answers because there isn't a right one either. Everyone knows what the White Socks are, so they shouldn't have to answer questions. People want them. Most people want the law of the land to be the law before they die.